Event Details
- Date:
- 26 October 2022 at 6:00 pm – 7:15 pm (8am UK time – 09:15am)
Description
The Symposium will present via Zoom findings from a survey of UK employers’ digital management practices.
The potential impact of digitalisation on the future of work and employment is high on the policy agenda in most advanced economies.
Much of the debate has focused on the extent to which digitalisation will cause job losses and how workers will need to acquire new skills.
Yet, beyond modelling of potential futures, the research base for much policymaking is limited.
Our study, which is the largest UK survey of employers’ digital practices, aims to fill this evidence gap.
Drawing on interviews with 2000 employers, we explore the different types of digital investment by employers and consider how this has impacted on human resource practices.
We also assess consequences of the pandemic.
The talk will cover three issues: first, the extent and variety of digital innovation; second, the impact of such investment on management strategies with regard to worker control and autonomy; third, the impact on jobs.
The speaker will discuss such questions as: Are high digital adopters planning to grow or cut their workforces? Are employers accelerating or slowing digital investment after the pandemic? Are employers planning sophisticated innovation strategies including automation and artificial intelligence?
The talk will locate our UK findings in an international policy context and will raise more general questions around the uncertainties facing employers after the pandemic.
The Symposium
The International Consortium for Research on Employment & Work (iCREW), Monash Business School, Monash University, and the Melbourne Human Resource Management Unit (MHRMU), Department of Management and Marketing, The University of Melbourne jointly host annual symposia in honour of the late Joe Isaac AO FASSA.
He held chairs at and was Emeritus Professor at Monash University and The University of Melbourne. He was one of Australia’s most distinguished scholars and practitioners in the broad fields of industrial relations/labour economics.
Presenter
Prof Stuart is the Montague Burton Professor of Human Resource Management and Employment Relations (ER) at the University of Leeds. He is the founding director of the Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change and co-Director of the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit – a joint initiative led by Sussex and Leeds Universities).
He has published widely on many ER topics, including skills, learning and training, ER change, union modernisation, sectoral restructuring, employee voice and the future of work and digital platforms. His researched has been funded by research councils, government departments, the European Parliament and Commission, international agencies, unions and charities.